{"id":662610,"url":"https://alion.io/job/xonaspace-director-of-flight-software-engineering","title":"Director of Flight Software Engineering","company":{"id":685097,"name":"Xona Space Systems","domain":"xonaspace.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/xonaspace","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":{"grade":"A","score":93,"open_postings":50,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.08,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":84,"computed_at":"2026-11-11T05:49:22Z"}},"role":"Leadership","role_family":"Leadership","seniority":"head","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Burlingame, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":218000,"max":274000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":274000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":10,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"CI/CD","optional":false},{"name":"Verification & Validation","optional":false},{"name":"C++","optional":true},{"name":"RTOS","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-08-27T18:35:17Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-08-27","last_verified_at":"2026-11-11T20:38:17Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":76,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":0,"flags":[],"days_open":75},"description":"Xona is the navigational intelligence company bringing real-time, centimeter-level certainty to any device, anywhere on Earth.\nWith Pulsar - the world’s most advanced PNT satellite infrastructure in Low Earth Orbit - Xona will offer a future-proof, backwards-compatible global positioning system optimized for absolute precision, superior power, and robust protection.\nOverview\nAs Director of Flight Software Engineering, you will own the architecture, delivery, and team that powers the onboard software for the Xona satellite bus and the growing Pulsar constellation. You will lead embedded flight software development, system-level verification & validation, and the processes that enable reliable, scalable software across hundreds of satellites. This is a high-impact leadership role at the intersection of real-time embedded systems, constellation-scale operations, and high-reliability space software.\nWhat You’ll Own\nLead and grow the Flight Software team (embedded developers + verification & validation engineers) responsible for the scalable onboard software architecture running across the Pulsar constellation.\n\nDefine and evolve the flight software architecture, interfaces, and development roadmap in close partnership with systems, avionics, payload, GNC, and ground segment teams.\n\nOwn end-to-end delivery: requirements decomposition, design, implementation, unit/integration testing, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) validation, and support through launch and on-orbit operations.\n\nBuild a high-performing organization through hiring, coaching, individual development plans, and a culture of ownership, technical excellence, and cross-functional collaboration.\n\nEstablish and continuously improve software development practices (configuration management, CI/CD, unit testing, code quality, documentation) that scale with constellation growth and over-the-air update needs.\n\nDrive quality, reliability, and process maturity - measuring team output against program commitments and implementing improvements that reduce risk and cost.\n\nPartner with senior leadership on technology strategy, long-term roadmap recommendations, and resource planning for current and future satellite programs.\n\nMinimum Qualifications\nBachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related STEM field (or equivalent practical experience; additional years of relevant experience may substitute for formal education)\n\n10+ years of professional software engineering experience, including significant time in embedded, real-time, or high-reliability systems\n\n3+ years of people leadership experience managing software engineers or technical leads (hiring, performance management, career development)\n\nDemonstrated experience leading software architecture and delivery for complex systems (aerospace, automotive, defense, or similar domains preferred)\n\nHands-on background with modern software practices, including CI/CD pipelines, configuration management, and automated testing\n\nPreferred Qualifications\n5+ years developing or leading embedded/flight software in aerospace or space systems\n\nDirect experience taking satellite or spacecraft software from early design through launch and on-orbit operations\n\nExperience architecting or managing software for multi-satellite fleets, including over-the-air updates, fault management, and constellation-scale operations\n\nFamiliarity with real-time operating systems (RTOS), space flight software frameworks (e.g., cFS, F´, or similar), C/C++, and hardware/software integration & test environments\n\nTrack record of building high-reliability processes and cultures in fast-moving hardware/software organizations\n\nAbility to drive consensus across multi-disciplinary teams and influence technical and program decisions at the senior leadership level\n\nFor U.S. Roles: To comply with U.S. Government space technology export regulations, applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the United States (i.e. Green Card holder), or other protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3).\nFor U.K. Roles: To comply with U.K. regulations, this role requires Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) checks, and successful candidates must be eligible to obtain UK Security Clearance (SC).\nFor Canada Roles: Successful candidates must obtain and hold a security clearance at the reliability status level, and pass security assessment for the Canadian Controlled Goods Program (CGP) and ITAR.\nWe celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.","description_format":"text","description_chars":4797,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":10,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":true,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Satellite Navigation","Satellite Manufacturing"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-10T21:42:52Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":52,"band":"ok","label":"Likely open","p_open":1,"p_active":0.865,"p_room":0.6,"age_days":75,"expected_fill_days":84,"reasons":["conf:0","velocity","win:late","crowd:"],"computed_at":"2026-11-11T05:49:22Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":274000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/xonaspace-director-of-flight-software-engineering","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/xonaspace-director-of-flight-software-engineering.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-11T21:48:05Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":42993,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-12T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.1,"usd":0.01,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":685097},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=685097"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fxonaspace-director-of-flight-software-engineering"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":2,"usd":0.2},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fxonaspace-director-of-flight-software-engineering"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.1,"usd":0.01},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fxonaspace-director-of-flight-software-engineering"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/xonaspace-director-of-flight-software-engineering\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fxonaspace-director-of-flight-software-engineering"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":662610}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"xonaspace.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":662610},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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